Instinct or cleverness?
是本能還是機(jī)智
We have been brought up to fear insects. We regard them as unnecessary creatures that do more harm than good. We continually wage war on them, for they contaminate our food, carry diseases, or devour our crops. They sting or bite without provocation; they fly uninvited into our rooms on summer nights, or beat ageist our lighted windows. We live in dread not only of unpleasant insects like spiders or wasps, but of quite harmless one like moths. Reading about them increases our understanding without dispelling our fears. Knowing that the industrious ant lives in a highly organized society does nothing to prevent us from being filled with revulsion when we find hordes of them crawling over a carefully prepared picnic lunch. No matter how much we like honey, or how much we have read about the uncanny sense of direction which bees possess, we have a horror of being stung. Most of our fears are unreasonable, but they are impossible to erase. At the same time, however, insects are strangely fascinating. We enjoy reading about them, especially when we find that, like the praying mantis, they lead perfectly horrible lives. We enjoy staring at them, entranced as they go about their business, unaware (we hope) of our presence. Who has not stood in awe at the sight of a spider pouncing on a fly, or a column of ants triumphantly bearing home an enormous dead beetle?
Last summer I spent days in the garden watching thousands of ants crawling up the trunk of my prize peach tree. The tree has grown against a warm wall on a sheltered side of the house. I am especially proud of it, not only because it has survived several severe winters, but because it occasionally produces luscious peaches. During the summer, I noticed tat the leaves of the tree were beginning to wither. Clusters of tin insects called aphids were to be found on the underside of the leaves. They were visited by a large colony of ants which obtained a sort of honey from them. I immediately embarked on an experiment which, even though if failed to get rid of the ants, kept me fascinated for twenty-four hours. I bound the base of the tree with sticky tape, making it impossible for the ants to reach the aphids. The tape was so stick that they did not dare to cross it. For a long time. I watched them scurrying around the base of the tree in bewilderment. I even went out at midnight with a torch and noted with satisfaction (and surprise) that the ants were still swarming around the sticky tape without being able to do anything about it. I got up early next morning hoping to find that the ants had given up in despair. Instead, I saw that they had discovered a new route. They were climbing up the wall of the house and then on to the leaves of the tree. I realized sadly that I had been completely defeated by their ingenuity. The ants had been quick to find an answer to my thoroughly unscientific methods!
我們自幼就在對(duì)昆蟲(chóng)的懼怕中長(zhǎng)大。我們把昆蟲(chóng)當(dāng)作害多益少的無(wú)用東西。人類不斷同昆蟲(chóng)斗爭(zhēng)，因?yàn)槔ハx(chóng)弄臟我們的食物，傳播疾病，吞噬莊稼。它們無(wú)緣無(wú)故地又叮又咬;夏天的晚上，它們未經(jīng)邀請(qǐng)便飛到我們房間里，或者對(duì)著露出亮光的窗戶亂撲亂撞。我們?cè)谌粘Ｉ钪校坏鲪喝缰┲�、黃蜂之類令人討厭的昆蟲(chóng)，而且憎惡并無(wú)大害的飛蛾等。閱讀有關(guān)昆蟲(chóng)的書能增加我們對(duì)它們的了解，卻不能消除我們的恐懼的心理。即使知道勤奮的螞蟻生活具有高度組織性的社會(huì)里，當(dāng)看到大群螞蟻在我們精心準(zhǔn)備的午間野餐上爬行時(shí)，我們也無(wú)法抑制對(duì)它們的反感。不管我們多么愛(ài)吃蜂蜜，或讀過(guò)多少關(guān)于蜜蜂具有神秘的識(shí)別方向的靈感的書，我們?nèi)匀皇趾ε卤环潋亍Ｎ覀兊目謶执蟛糠质菦](méi)有道理的，但去無(wú)法消除。同時(shí)，不知為什么昆蟲(chóng)又是迷人的。我們喜歡看有關(guān)昆蟲(chóng)的書，尤其是當(dāng)我們了解螳螂等過(guò)著一種令人生畏的生活時(shí)，就更加愛(ài)讀有關(guān)昆蟲(chóng)的書了。我們喜歡入迷地看它們做事，它們不知道(但愿如此)我們就在它們身邊。當(dāng)看到蜘蛛撲向一只蒼蠅時(shí)，一隊(duì)螞蟻抬著一只巨大的死甲蟲(chóng)凱旋歸時(shí)，誰(shuí)能不感到敬畏呢?
去年夏天，我花了好幾天時(shí)間站在花園里觀察成千只螞蟻爬上我那棵心愛(ài)的桃樹(shù)的樹(shù)干。那棵樹(shù)是靠著房子有遮擋的一面暖墻生長(zhǎng)的。我為這棵樹(shù)感到特別自豪，不僅因?yàn)樗冗^(guò)了幾個(gè)寒冬終于活了下來(lái)，而且還因?yàn)樗袝r(shí)結(jié)出些甘甜的桃子來(lái)。到了夏天，我發(fā)現(xiàn)樹(shù)葉開(kāi)始枯萎，結(jié)果在樹(shù)葉背面找到成串的叫作蚜蟲(chóng)小蟲(chóng)子。蚜蟲(chóng)遭到一窩螞蟻的攻擊，螞蟻從它們身上可以獲得一種蜜。我當(dāng)即動(dòng)手作了一項(xiàng)試驗(yàn)，這項(xiàng)試驗(yàn)盡管沒(méi)有使我擺脫這些螞蟻，卻使我著迷了24小時(shí)。我用一條膠帶把桃樹(shù)底部包上，不讓螞蟻接近蚜蟲(chóng)。膠帶極粘，螞蟻不敢從上面爬過(guò)。在很長(zhǎng)一段時(shí)間里，我看見(jiàn)螞蟻圍著大樹(shù)底部來(lái)回轉(zhuǎn)悠，不知所措。半夜，我還拿著電筒來(lái)到花園里，滿意地(同時(shí)驚奇地)發(fā)現(xiàn)那些螞蟻還圍著膠帶團(tuán)團(tuán)轉(zhuǎn)。無(wú)能為力。第二天早上，我起床后希望看見(jiàn)螞蟻已因無(wú)望而放棄了嘗試，結(jié)果卻發(fā)現(xiàn)它們又找到一條新的路徑。它們正在順著房子的外墻往上爬，然后爬上樹(shù)葉。我懊喪地感到敗在了足智多謀的螞蟻的手下。螞蟻已很快找到了相應(yīng)的對(duì)策，來(lái)對(duì)付我那套完全不科學(xué)的辦法!
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